Perfect Personal Essay

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and What Are You Gonna Do About It?

What will AI mean to the future of writing?

from Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay
by Nancy Slonim Aronie | Posted 10/25/24 | Updated 11/11/24

By the time this book comes out, AI may have written a better one. There will probably be people who can read something and know immediately that it wasn't written by a person, those who won't know the difference, those who won't care, and those who are terrified and outraged.

Thinking about what AI will mean to the future of writing, I felt the impulse to write a book on how important essays are and to beg you all to not succumb to the ease of letting some artificial entity take your voice, use your voice, and then dull your voice. But then I let go of that impulse and thought, Maybe AI will be a fad that fades into the land of the fax machine and those light-up kid sneakers.

It's hard to know, given our addiction to technology. So I won't speculate. What I will do is talk about soul.

In the sixties, my sister became a devotee of Eckankar, a spiritual movement that teaches, among other things, the art of soul travel. Soul travel involves out-of-body experiences, but the soul, they say, doesn't actually go anywhere. Instead, soul travel is a natural ability that's a close cousin to dreaming. Anybody can do it. And that's because the soul is the unique innermost essence in every one of us. We just have to learn to tap into it.

Buddhists believe that soul refers to your inner life in relation to your own experience, as opposed to spirit, which is your inner life in relation to God. Soul is your mind, your heart, your will, and your imagination. It encompasses your thoughts, desires, passions, and dreams.

Hindus believe that all beings are souls and therefore spiritual in nature; that the body is temporary and eventually dies, but the soul is eternal; and that after death the soul is reincarnated, taking birth in another physical body.

I had a close girlfriend in high school who became a born-again Christian, and when I saw her at our ten-year reunion, she told me that because I'm Jewish, she prayed for my soul every day. I still loved her, so of course I thanked her. I mean, who am I not to take someone's genuine concern? Plus, her prayers might be working. I'm still kicking almost sixty years later.

So, soul has been defined and used and bandied about. It's one of those buzzwords that is now used to sell everything. But personally, I can't put words to the word. It's a … feeling. Like, can you describe chocolate without using the word chocolate? But I know what I feel, and sometimes feelings just don't have sentences.

And when I read something written by ChatGPT, it's accurate and filled with facts but no chocolate. In other words, it lacks soul.

Essays are yours. They express your soul — your heart and mind and opinions and language and rhythms, your emotional connection to the topic. AI could never, ever do that.

So, what can you do about the AI invasion? Like anything new and shiny, you could start to worship it. But instead, use it for what it's best for, facts and info, but don't allow it to take your voice away. And don't let it abuse your particular brand of magic.

Next: Here's Why You Have to Make Up with Your Siblings

Nancy Slonim Aronie is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered. …